The association between atherogenic index of plasma and all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease-specific mortality in hypertension patients: a retrospective cohort study of NHANES.

BACKGROUND: Atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), a marker of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease (CVD), was related to the all-cause mortality and CVD-specific mortality in a U-shape in general population respectively. However, no studies have investigated these associations in hypertensive populations. Herein, this study aims to explore the relationship of AIP and all-cause mortality and CVD-specific mortality in patients with hypertension in order to provide some reference for the risk hierarchical management of hypertension. METHODS: Demographic and clinical data of 17,382 adult patients with hypertension were extracted from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database in 2005-2018 in this retrospective cohort study. We used weighted univariate COX regression analysis to screen the covariates, and that weighted univariate and multivariate COX regression analyses to explore the association between AIP and all-cause mortality and CVD-specific mortality with hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Subgroup analyses of age, gender, body mass index (BMI), CVD, diabetes mellitus (DM), antihyperlipidemic agents use, and hypotensive drugs use were also performed for further exploration of these relationships. RESULTS: The average follow-up time was 97.10 months. A total of 2,844 patients died, and 971 of them died due to CVD. After adjusting for age, race, education level, marital status, poverty-income ratio (PIR), smoking, BMI, physical activity, antihyperlipidemic agents, DM, CVD, hypotensive drugs, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), and total energy intake, we found that both low [HR = 1.18, 95%CI: (1.07-1.32)] and high [HR = 1.17, 95%CI: (1.03-1.33)] levels of AIP were linked to an increased risk of all-cause mortality, and the U-shape association between AIP and CVD-specific mortality was also found [low AIP level: HR = 1.26, 95%CI: (1.05-1.51); high AIP level: HR = 1.26, 95%CI: (1.06-1.49)]. Furthermore, these relationships were existed in patients whose BMI > 25, were non-Hispanic White, with non-CVD, non-DM, non-antihyperlipidemic agents, and used hypertension drug (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: AIP was associated with both all-cause mortality and CVD-specific mortality in patients with hypertension, but the specific role of AIP in prognosis in hypertensive populations is needed further exploration.

Prevalence of primary aldosteronism in patients with concomitant hypertension and obstructive sleep apnea, baseline data of a cohort.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and primary aldosteronism (PA) often coexist in hypertension, whereas whether hypertensive patients with OSA should be screened for PA is controversial and whether gender, age, obesity and OSA severity should be considered is unexplored. We explored cross-sectionally prevalence and associated factors of PA in co-existent hypertension and OSA by considering gender, age, obesity and OSA severity. OSA was defined as AHI ≥5 events/h. PA diagnosis was defined, based on the 2016 Endocrine Society Guideline. We included 3306 patients with hypertension (2564 with OSA). PA prevalence was significantly higher in hypertensives with OSA than in those without OSA (13.2 vs 10.0%, P = 0.018). In gender-specific analysis, PA prevalence was significantly higher in hypertensive men with OSA, compared to non-OSA ones (13.8 vs 7.7%, P = 0.001). In further analysis, PA prevalence was significantly higher in hypertensive men with OSA aged <45 years (12.7 vs 7.0%), 45-59 years (16.6 vs 8.5%), and with overweight and obesity (14.1 vs 7.1%) than did their counterparts (P < 0.05). For OSA severity, men participants showed increased PA prevalence from non to moderate OSA and a decrease in the severe OSA group (7.7 vs 12.9 vs 15.1 vs 13.7%, P = 0.008). Young and middle age, moderate-severe OSA, weight, and blood pressure showed a positive independent association with PA presence in logistic regression. In conclusion, PA is prevalent in co-existent hypertension and OSA, indicating the need for PA screening. Studies are needed for women, older and lean population due to the smaller samples in this study.

Higher aldosterone is associated with increased renal impairment risk in patients with hypertension and abnormal glucose metabolism: a longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) and renal impairment in patients with both hypertension and abnormal glucose metabolism (AGM). METHODS: The longitudinal observational study included 2033 hypertensive individuals with AGM who did not have chronic kidney disease (CKD) at baseline. CKD was defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) less than 60 ml/min per 1.73 m2 and/or positive proteinuria. Directed acyclic graphs and LASSO regression analyses were applied to identify adjusted sets. Cox proportional hazard models and linear regression were used to evaluate the association of PAC with CKD and its components including decreased renal function (DRF) and proteinuria. Mediation analysis was used to examine the role of blood pressure (BP) in the association between the two. RESULTS: During total follow-up of 5951 person-years with a median follow-up of 31 months, 291 participants developed CKD. The incidence of CKD was increased with the elevation in tertile PAC. Multivariable Cox model showed that PAC was positively associated with increased CKD risk (hazard ratio = 1.76 for natural log-transformed PAC, P < 0.001), and with increased risk of DRF and proteinuria. SBP mediated 7.5-17.9% of the association between PAC and renal impairment. Overall results remained consistent and significant in sensitivity analysis by excluding those with suspicious primary aldosteronism, too short follow-up time and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists use. CONCLUSION: Higher PAC was associated with increased CKD risk in patients with hypertension and AGM, even in the absence of suspicious primary aldosteronism. The results indicate PAC may serve as a potential therapeutic target in this population.

Positive Association Between Plasma Aldosterone Concentration and White Matter Lesions in Patients With Hypertension.

Background and Objective: White matter lesions (WMLs) are imaging changes in MRI of cerebral small vessel disease associated with vascular risk factors, increasing the risk of dementia, depression, and stroke. Aldosterone (ALD) or activation of mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) causes cerebrovascular injury in a mouse model. We aimed to analyze the relationship between ALD and WMLs in a population with hypertension. Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of all patients screened for causes of secondary hypertension. We enrolled 547 patients with WMLs and matched these to controls without WMLs at a 1:1 ratio. White matter lesion load was assessed by using a modified Scheltens' scale. Results: Among the analytic sample (N = 1,094) with ages ranging from 30 to 64 years, 62.2% were male. We divided plasma ALD concentration (PAC), plasma renin activity (PRA), and ALD-renin ratio (ARR) into the third tertile (Q3), second tertile (Q2), and first tertile (Q1). We also analyzed them simultaneously as continuous variables. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that participants in Q3 (>17.26 ng/dl) of PAC (OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.15, 2.19), Q3 (<0.80 ng/dl) of PRA (OR 2.50, 95% CI 1.81, 3.44), and Q3 (>18.59 ng/dl per ng/ml*h) of ARR (OR 2.90, 95% CI 2.10, 4.01) had a significantly higher risk of WMLs than those in Q1 (<12.48) of PAC, Q1 (>2.19) of PRA, and Q1 (<6.96) of ARR. In linear regression analysis, we separately analyzed the correlation between the modified Scheltens' scale score and log(PAC) (ß = 2.36; 95% CI 1.30, 3.41; p < 0.001), log(PRA) (ß = -1.76; 95% CI -2.09, -1.43; p < 0.001), and log(ARR) (ß = 1.86; 95% CI 1.55, 2.17; p < 0.001), which were all significantly correlated with white matter lesion load, after adjusting for confounding factors. Simple mediation analyses showed that systolic blood pressure (SBP) or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) mediated -3.83% or -2.66% of the association between PAC and white matter lesion load, respectively. In stratified analyses, there was no evidence of subgroup heterogeneity concerning the change in the risk of WMLs (p > 0.05 for interaction for all). Conclusion: Higher PAC, especially in PAC >17.26 ng/dl, increased the risk of WMLs. PAC was positively associated with white matter lesion load independent of SBP or DBP.

Government-Expert Joint Intervention with Treatment Algorithm and Improved Hypertension Management and Reduced Stroke Mortality in a Primary-Care Setting.

Hypertension management is suboptimal in the primary-care setting of developing countries, where the burden of both hypertension and cardiovascular disease is huge. Therefore, we conducted a government-expert joint intervention in a resource-constrained primary setting of Emin, China, between 2014 and 2016, to improve hypertension management and reduce hypertension-related hospitalization and mortality. Primary-care providers were trained on treatment algorithm and physicians for specialized management. Public education was delivered by various ways including door-to-door screening. Program effectiveness was evaluated using screening data by comparing hypertension awareness, treatment, and control rates and by comparing hypertension-related hospitalization and total cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke mortality at each phase. As results, 313 primary-health providers were trained to use the algorithm and 3 physicians attended specialist training. 1/3 of locals (49490 of 133376) were screened. Compared to the early phase, hypertension awareness improved by 9.3% (58% vs. 64%), treatment by 11.4% (39% vs. 44%), and control rates by 33% (10% vs. 15%). The proportion of case/all-cause hospitalization was reduced by 35% (4.02% vs. 2.60%) for CVD and by 17% (3.72% vs. 3.10%) for stroke. The proportion of stroke/all-cause death was reduced by 46% (21.9% in 2011-2013 vs. 15.0% in 2014-2016). At the control area, the proportion of case/all-cause mortality showed no reduction. In conclusion, government-expert joint intervention with introducing treatment algorithm may improve hypertension control and decrease related hospitalization and stroke mortality in underresourced settings.

Correlation of lipid metabolic disturbance with SOCS-3 gene variation in the Uygur nationality women in Xinjiang.

To study the correlation of lipid metabolic disturbance with gene variation of suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS-3) in the Uygur nationality women in Xinjiang. We Selected 1379 Uygur nationality women as research objects and proceeded genotype assay for 3 representative loci (rs12953258, rs4969168 and rs9914220) to analyze them. There were significant difference in genotypic frequency in rs12953258 between lipid metabolic disturbance group and lipid embolism group (P=0.032) and between high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) abnormal and normal group (P=0.029). Logistic regression analysis showed that the AA genotype of rs12953258 might be a risk factors of lipid metabolic disturbance in the Uygur nationality women in Xinjiang [CC/AA: OR=3.271, 95% CI (1.092-9.797), P=0.034]. The AA genotype might be associated with HDL-C decrease and triacylglycerol increase. The AA genotype Uygur nationality women with abnormal body mass index (BMI) were more sensitive to lipid metabolic disturbance disease. SOCS-3 gene variation may be associated with lipid metabolic disturbance in the Uygur nationality women in Xinjiang, prevalence of lipid metabolic disturbance increases significantly in crowd carrying AA genotype with abnormal BMI.